How Homies Helping Homies is fighting food insecurity in Philadelphia
Every Monday in Point Breeze, volunteers dedicate the start of the new week to Homies Helping Homies. A handful of volunteers meet weekly to load their cars with fruits, snacks and even fresh bread.
Anthony Adams and his friend Kevin Bass started the nonprofit Homies Helping Homies after realizing food insecurity was not just a problem among those who are homeless.
"A lot of things people do in desperation are to feed their family," Adams said. "At the end of the day, if we can put one meal on the table to relieve some of that stress, we've done what we are out here to do."
Homies Helping Homies operates in a small storage unit where most groceries are stored. While most volunteers, like Adams, have other jobs, they still make time to give back.
"We don't put pressure to show up," Adams said. "They come when they want."
The grassroots organization started in 2020 at the height of the George Floyd protests.
Adams and Bass had an idea.
"We were passing eye wash kits, water and snacks to make sure people were hydrated throughout the day," Adams said.
People just started giving them household items to hand out.
When the pandemic hit, food pantries closed. In response, they set up a small table just a few blocks from their storage unit.
"That first table, it took about a month and a half of preparation," Adams said, "and that table lasted 45 minutes before everything was gone."
They've been setting up shop ever since.
"In a perfect world, we wouldn't exist," Adams said. "We exist because of food insecurity, and marginalized people don't have the resources they need for everyday life."
